Diplomatic sources’ in Pakistan say, “The US and Pakistan have reached an understanding on joint operations against the Haqqani network but no final decision has been taken yet”. Outside, ‘leaks’ have appeared in the press indicating that “understanding for joint operations against the Haqqani network was reached at a meeting between senior US and Pakistani military commanders in Islamabad”. More clearly, The Wall Street Journal reported “that plans for joint operations” against the Haqqanis and Maulavi Fazlullah “were discussed in meetings between ISI chief Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam and top CIA, State Department and Pentagon officials in Washington”. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik used to throw broad hints at Americans for helping the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) assist in carrying out attacks inside Pakistan from the Afghan provinces, Kunar and Nuristan. Now, he says the Afghan government and its secret agency are doing the dastardly deed, not the Americans.

Apparently, our ISI chief General Islam got nowhere with the drones and an understanding on the subject was deferred. He is believed to have offered a proposal which urges the US to identify targets and let Pakistani F16s carry out the attacks. If there is no agreement on the drones, it could derail the whole process, not so much because the Pakistan Army hates the drones but because the Pakistani people and the media have been subjected to a hype about them by the concerned quarters, which may not be speaking with one voice.

Another question must bother the Pakistani side — if not the Americans — because they have more information about Pakistan’s real capacity to control events on its soil. The Haqqanis have a close relationship with al Qaeda and Admiral Michael Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, accused the Haqqani network of being “one of several extremist organisations serving as proxies of the Government of Pakistan”. The Haqqanis are lodged safely in North Waziristan, which the Pakistan Army says it cannot attack just yet for various reasons, in order to flush them out. But the network has extended itself to other areas, too, including the Kurram tribal agency. The Americans want to take the Haqqanis out because of their ability to kill in large areas of Afghanistan. They operate in the Afghan provinces of Khost, Paktia and Paktika and have an extensive presence in Kabul, Logar, Wardak, Ghazni, Zabul, Kandahar and Kunduz. Their outreach also includes the distant Afghan provinces of Badakhshan and Faryab.
If Pakistan gives up the Haqqani network, it gives up its trump card in the Afghan endgame. But the new line in Pakistan is that the doctrine of strategic depth is no longer the embraced philosophy and a new approach has been adopted. As far as the drones are concerned, the world sees pressure rather than conviction behind the Pakistani stand. Every time the Taliban attack and kill innocent Pakistanis, the clearly enunciated message is ‘get the Americans to stop their drones’. There is yet more lack of clarity. Is Pakistan able to deliver on the commitment it is vaguely making to the Americans through its ‘understanding’ on the Haqqanis? This is the question most analysts in the US will ask.

The question about the capacity of the state to control its territory is being asked in Pakistan but it is diverted to other emotive aspects of the sovereignty of the state vis-à-vis an intrusive strategy of the Americans to tackle terrorists that Pakistan cannot handle. If the Taliban were not obliged to own up to their acts of terrorism to make their presence felt, Pakistan is inclined to link all terror on its soil to America and India, as it is doing with respect to Balochistan. The problem here is that Pakistan is alone in the world in this thinking and its economy is in the process of a meltdown that cannot be halted without international help.

It is time to make a comprehensive policy shift. It is going to be difficult but as long as the international community understands that it is taking place, Pakistan’s chances of surviving remain bright.

US and Pakistani officials are considering joint counterterrorism campaigns in Afghanistan and Pakistan, are , an American newspaper reported on Saturday, saying the move would mark an upturn in cooperation after more than a year of ‘rancorous’ relations.

“The campaigns would be intended to help stamp out major security threats facing each country, targeting what the US says are sanctuaries for the Haqqani network, and what Pakistan says are sanctuaries for the Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan,” the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said in a dispatch on the talks ISI chief Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam had with his CIA counterpart David Petraeus as well as officials of the State Department and Pentagon.

The plans are considered, at best, promising, the dispatch said, pointing out that US officials have long pressed Pakistani counterparts to target the Haqqani group, but without success.

In meetings with CIA’s Petraeus and other officials, Lt Gen Islam explained that US concessions on drones and the Taliban sites in Afghanistan would give Islamabad room to build domestic support for counterterrorism work with the US, the newspaper quoted officials as saying.

Under this proposal, the US would also work with Pakistan to control the Afghan side of the border, so militants driven out could not escape into the Afghan border region, these officials said.

The Pakistanis have named the planned offensive, in North Waziristan, Operation Tight Screw, according to WSJ.

“Pakistan’s democratic government is committed to moving forward with the US in many shared goals,” Pakistan’s Ambassador in Washington Sherry Rehman was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

She said her government is working to reshape its relationships in the region. “Better ties with the US can help us in this broader goal of creating equities for peace instead of volatility in a region that is going through many security transitions.”

“It’s a good beginning,” Vali Nasr, a former top State Department official who is dean of the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, told the newspaper.

He pointed out that in previous joint campaigns Pakistan has asked to be involved in all aspects of intelligence-gathering. But the US side has looked sceptically at Pakistani requests to share information about coming raids. “It’s always been a sticking point,” said Nasr, an American of Iranian descent.

Also discussed was Pakistan’s demand for a halt to CIA drone strikes in tribal region. But no agreement was reached on any changes to the programme, the newspaper said, citing officials.

US and Pakistani officials, according to the dispatch, both described this week’s meetings as productive and indicative of a higher level of trust than in previous meetings.